


A Gift For You

by flipflop_diva



Category: Batwoman (TV 2019)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Community: purimgifts, Gen, Hanukkah, Presents, Sister-Sister Relationship, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23048725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: Kate gets an unexpected present for Hanukah.
Relationships: Beth Kane | Alice & Kate Kane
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15
Collections: Purimgifts 2020





	A Gift For You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [transgeneric_burial](https://archiveofourown.org/users/transgeneric_burial/gifts).



“What is that?” Kate came to a complete stop, her eyes laser focused on the small package in the blue wrapping paper, adorned with silver ribbon and a bow, lying in the middle of the desk in her office in the mansion.

Luke looked up from where he was fiddling with something or other. “A present,” he said, looking at her like she really should have known that.

“I can see that. Where did it come from?”

Luke shrugged. 

Kate rolled her eyes. “Seriously? All these security cameras and other security measures and you can’t tell me how a present just got here and is now sitting in the middle of my desk?”

“I didn’t think …” Luke stopped and shook his head, like he realized he was about to go full blast on a bad take. “Maybe a friend brought it over?” he tried instead.

“Do I have many friends?”

“Sophie?”

“Is that a serious guess?”

“Mary?” Luke asked hopefully.

“Mary’s not Jewish,” Kate said. “She wouldn’t bring me a Hanukkah present. Not like this.”

“She’s never gotten you a Hanukkah present?” Luke seemed surprised.

“No, she has,” Kate said. “But she likes to give them to me in person. All eight. In a row. One at a time. One the last day of Hanukkah. She’s done it every year since our parents got married.”

“Okay, so not Mary then.” Luke put down whatever he was working on, casting a look at the serious expression on Kate’s face. “I can look into it if you want?”

Kate moved closer to the present, studying the wrapping and the ribbon. A part of her had known from the second she’d seen it, but she had hoped she was wrong.

She was sure now she wasn’t wrong.

“Don’t bother,” she said. “I know where it came from. I just don’t know if I want to open it.”

“Do you want me to check it for explosives? Poisons?” 

“No. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Okay.” Luke drew the word out, watching her stare at the present, clearly confused.

“It’s from Alice.” Kate finally looked at him. “We always gave each other a gift on the first day of Hanukkah. Our parents gave them to us for the other seven days.”

“That’s, ummm, kind of sweet?”

“Yeah.” Kate touched the present. “It was then.”

\--

Kate sat at her desk and stared at the present for three hours before she finally opened it, trying not to let her hands tremble as she did so.

First, she carefully removed the bow, then she untied the silver ribbon, and finally she slid her fingers under the edges of the blue paper, dislodging the tape until each side came free and she was left holding a small, worn, hardcover book in her hands.

_Alice in Wonderland._

She sighed, a soft sad noise in the quiet of the night, and then stood up, walking out of the office, the book still in her hands.

Later that night, she settled down in bed, the book beside her on the blanket. She wasn’t sure if she could read it, but she wasn’t sure she couldn’t.

She opened the first page but the words were blurred.

She reached up to wipe away a tear.

“Happy Hanukah, Beth,” she whispered into the night, and maybe it was her imagination — or rather, she hoped it was — but she thought she maybe heard her sister whisper it back.

**Author's Note:**

>   
>   
>   
> 


End file.
